Faction (literature)

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Faction, a neologism, in literature, describes a text as based on real historical figures, and actual events, woven together with fictitious allegations.

Faction is often disliked as confusing to people who are trying to find facts. For example, schoolchildren told to look for historical information are liable to be confused by faction.

[edit] Examples of faction

Faction is not a new phenomenon. Geoffrey of Monmouth was a successful faction writer in the 12th century, and later the historian Holinshed was led into error by treating Geoffrey of Monmouth's writings as truth.

Another example of faction is the book According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge. This book describes the last few years of Samuel Johnson's life as seen through the eyes of Queeney Thrale, eldest daughter of Henry Thrale and Hester Thrale. Here, the word "faction" is a portmanteau of "fact" and "fiction".

"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote is a good example of faction and is considered to be the first piece in the genre of nonfiction novels.

Another famous example is the story of author Alex Haley and his entire family history for 9 generations in the book Roots: The Saga of an American Family.